Messages

16

Discussion / Re: Naming Soldiers

« on: July 30, 2014, 09:49:12 pm »

I originally had the same problems trying to do just this thing with the UFOAI directory in C:\Program Files\ so I moved it to C:\Users\Public\

It works from there.  I'm on Vista and its probably a UAC / Privilege thing but I didn't feel like playing around with settings.

17

Discussion / Re: Naming Soldiers

« on: July 30, 2014, 09:03:19 am »

If you want to use complete names you can erase all of the lastname entries and then use the female / male entries for the full names.

Just leave a set of the quotation marks in -->  lastname (   ""   )
Or it'll break on you.

18

Bugs in stable version (2.5) / Re: Exit Battle Early

« on: April 13, 2014, 09:52:56 pm »

...or be patient and wait until one of the devs has managed to init a 2.5 nightly build, then DL.

http://ufoai.org/snapshots/

  Changes re: Exit Battle Early were appar on the 12th of April 2014.  Currently the ufoai-latest ( 2.6 dev nightly) are the only builds past this date.  Although the ufoai-stable (2.6 dev) is usually updated often.  The most current 2.5 stable was from a while ago.  I'm not sure, but I suspect one of the things (among better cross-platform support) that the latest 2.5 stable is awaiting is full integration of the newer UI.  It seems imminent.

   But if you cannot wait you can use git to pull or just d/l the latest.

19

Feature Requests / Re: Simultaneous Movement

« on: April 13, 2014, 09:30:05 pm »

   As a pure game balancing mechanic I can kind of see the value here.  That said rather than limiting the player controlled units I'd sooner have the computer units AI be upgraded to take advantage of what its units uncover.
   Currently the CPU moves consequentially through its units turns, never halting a units movements halfway though said units turns - switching to another unit - then switching back to the original unit.  Never really ever reacting to the uncovered action as a group/team.  The human mind would balk at being this limited though and it would be very difficult to revert to this action which I don't believe the player units have ever been limited to.

   Although, a choose your action then rendering of said action would def be more visually fluid.  Perhaps upon completion there is a mission replay button which renders all choices simultaneously through each turn?  Rather then each unit individually within each turn.  It would certainly be cool to watch how the mission unfolded in realtime.

20

Feature Requests / Re: Reaction fire, I really think this is good advice...

« on: April 13, 2014, 08:55:35 pm »

   I like these bars which show up.  They are very helpful. 

http://ufoai.org/wiki/Proposals/Reaction_Fire_UI

   That said um, the weapon distance check is one of the last things right?  ie you want to be able to fire at an alien who perhaps starts out of range but eventually steps into range rather then failing the check at the beginning and only waiting till the enemy is in range to begin checking.
   That said, what happens when the distance check for RF fails? It seems like its reset (for that soldier)?  If the only thing that is failing ( ie no other soldier takes a shot) then your unit should still have a full RF bar and be just waiting for the enemy unit to be in range.

Maybe thats the way it is.  It seems like the soldier checks the TU ( say 12 TU) completes and then fails the distance check.. resets and counts again to 12, fails the distance check.. counts again to 12..??

**3rd Thoughts:  It may just be the line of fire (LOF) being obscurred for that soldier during the one enemy movement which is failing and thus resetting the RF TU count.  In fact that seems probable.  It is still nice seeing the RF calculations in action.

21

Tactics / Re: Assault and CRC weapons choices

« on: April 13, 2014, 08:49:25 pm »

Heavy Laser is also really a slow Laser Rifle in means of DMG/TU. It also has less ammo and accuracy, so it's a waste IMO.

   I would say that the difference here is really not that big, with a slight favouring of the Laser Rifle over the Heavy Laser.  Obviously against Medium Alien Armour, the balance shifts wholeheartedly against the Laser Rifle.  The Heavy Laser is slower but does more damage and thus is really comparable to the Laser Rifle right up until you effectively have half the ammo..
   Is twice the damage against medium armour worth half the ammo capacity?  Unless every enemy is wearing their med-armour duds, that extra turn you gotta spend reloading is just ugg, but as a transition from the MG the heavy laser is an viable option for those units.  Although the increased stat growth makes this much less of an issue.. re: light assault v. heavy assault.

I've switched to EP Assault Rifles and they DO rock - even armored Ortnoks do not stand a chance, so I don't feel MGs are necessary for battling them.

   pewpew? Its a range thing / playstyle where you have the throughwall coil guns and MGs softening up and or finishing all the enemies from respective distance.  So that by the time you are really engaged in 'close' combat the enemy is at considerably reduced HP.  pewpew?
   The thing with the EP ammo is that it manages to use the original weapon ammo capacity specs.  Usually with increased damage comes less ammo but here that particular tech effect is not observed, with an effective doubling of d/TU at the same ammo caps.  Unheard of really.  It seems completely unbalanced with respect to how everything thing else is weighted.

Also, are AM Bolters superior to Coilguns? The latter oneshot or at least critically wound and cause berserk almost everyone, is there a reason to employ Bolters if I just don't feel like it?

   Well if your definiiton of a sniper weapon is one shot=one kill than the AM Bolter is your weapon.  Otherwise in no way are the AM Bolters superior to Coilguns.
   You don't need to pay attention as much to obstacles with the coil gun, allowing if you want; to always stay behind cover while firing.  This huge advantage over the Sniper Rifle ( even with EP ammo), and w/o the limiting ammo capacity of the Bolter; should signify the Coil Gun as the goto ranged weapon.
   Damage wise the EP Sniper, Bolter and Coil gun are comparable to each other.  Its the further throughwall capacity of the Coil gun v. the sniper rifle that truly sets it apart.

22

Feature Requests / Re: Reaction fire, I really think this is good advice...

« on: April 11, 2014, 09:18:06 pm »

I may be alone, but like checkers or even chess what I like about turn based games is the ability to force the opponent into a move or series of moves that is ill advised or otherwise unwanted through superior positioning  ( of my troops).  ...or rather the supposed superior positioning of my troops.

IF I have the active abilty to choose my soldiers reactions to the enemy ON the enemies own turn; I kinda feel like my attempts at positioning are/were in vain.  Also I may want to really play an RTS if I feel like it should be my turn/my turn or even my turn/your turn +++my turn  and then /my turn.  So yeah, I am super wary of allowing a player a choice during the opponents turn.

Also I believe that Reaction Fire works the same for both sides, so every ability you give yourself / you are also giving your opponent.  But whatever RF system is used, in a turn based game, it should be a simple affair IE not just one that works for the player, but one that the player can easily intuit and combat against, fully allowing them and their enemy the abilty to plot.

Also /me I'm not terribly imaginative so I need to kinda 'hands on' see how things work, but that doesn't mean things should just remain at what they are / I like the ideas being expressed here and ultimately there are various play styles outside of my own.

What if I have 20 TUs and I select auto fire (12 TUs) then I have 8 TUs wasted and I could of use them as a snap shot!

Depends on range but with 20 TU's you could have thrown down an IC Grenade ( aka the only DOT weapon) which would have forced the Alien to move around your fire / not move towards your fire or even forced the Alien to move through your fire thus damage.  At which point that extra 8 TU as a set reaction snap shot may just come in handy... although with 21 TU you could have crouched.. or sprung for the 12 TU 3 shots plus the IC Grenade at 22 TU's?

23

Tactics / Update: Weapon Tables

« on: April 11, 2014, 08:03:51 pm »

http://ufoai.org/wiki/Comprehensive_weapon_table_of_the_development_version

Recently Dumper updated the comprehensive weapons table.  You can easily sort the tables by clicking any of the header values;  allowing you to see how each weapon performs against say: Alien Body Armour.. Or even allowing a person to check the splash damage of your own Frag Grenade against your troop Combat Armour...ie not so friendly fire /me cough cough butimayjustdoitanyways cause sometimes the only thing between me and an Alien is one of your own.

The tables also include the accuracy spreads, crouch effects and other non pure damage values.  Highely useful and allows a person to easily compare the various weapons that UFO:AI has to offer from a multitude of perspectives.

Small gripe; the main ranged table is so large I occasionly get lost in it /me heeh and the list unfortunately does not include the individual Alien resistances at the moment, so actual in-game damage results may not exactly match the values expressed within the weapon tables.

That said the weapon tables are still of significant utility; far easier than using notepad to sift through who knows what ufo files and mad props @Dumper for their creation and most recent update.  Thanks mate.

24

Tactics / Re: Is there really any point in equipping armor?

« on: December 08, 2013, 12:51:33 pm »

One of my fav units.. equipped with the Monomolecular Knife (0.3 kg) and Combat Armour (7.0 kg).  This requires a Strength of 37 or higher.  In order to stay within the light class every strength beyond 37 is equal to 0.2 kg.

So at Str38 and Str39, I can equip a flashbang (0.2 kg) in the off-hand and respectively, one in the belt.   The Monomolecular Knife is an incredibly effective weapon, which you get reasonably early and with high damage values that will continue to be effective for the entirety of the early game, and into the mid game.

As a light, the min TU is 42.  Giving you a max range of 21, leaving you:

For 2 Stab: 34TU remaining, Ensuring you a 100% Killing Range of 17 -OH: 14 OR: 13
For 3 Stab: 30TU remaining, Ensuring you a 100% Killing Range of 15 -OH: 12 OR: 11
For 4 Stab: 26TU remaining, Ensuring you a 100% Killing Range of 13 -OH: 10 OR: 9

Smaller Numbers are KR's including use -OH: Off-hand flashbang OR: Off-hand Reserve flashbang ( from belt&holster)
* One Stab takes 4 TU


My experiences with this are that its difficult to implement this unit into the group, as single scouts they are effective at spotting the enemy contacts, but with a tendacy to seperate/isolate themselves.

I've had better results using 2, but due to the increased mobility still get caught in situations with out backup.  So I'm trying to use them together as a sort of self-contained scouting unit.

My best results were using this unit exclusively, took three on a base defense vs 7 aliens: light armoured taman/shevaar with plasma blasters/rifle and a few hovernets, one of which scored the only hit against me.  I won in six turns but I'm seriously hoping to find a better way to usefully intregrate within a larger group.

25

Tactics / Re: Is there really any point in equipping armor?

« on: December 08, 2013, 11:58:40 am »

*To pre-face.. I have not played since the re-balancing of stat growth.

The obvious reason of why you would equip more weight and lose the +12 TU, is simply to grow that soldiers Strength stat.

With the armor, it depends on what weapons you are up against and whether it would allow you to take a direct hit and live or not [ which by the way is exactly the same way aircraft armour works..although aircraft's currently suffer no penalty for damage]

It is a big deal because there are more benefits to living than out right dying UNLESS its a throwaway unit.. but honestly many of the more powerful weapon versions are also heavier, so going light may* result in end-game units that can only equip early to mid game tech.. or at least it was that way.

The bonus +12 TU also means a much reduced strength stat growth of which the full effects* may only be truly felt late game.

I guess the real value of armor may be determined on your light units.. after you have the bonus TU .. and the extra TU is THE only reason you would do so.. and you had the strength for it.. would you rather have armour Or an extra ammo clip??? Or an extra grenade??? Or a back-up weapon??

Also there is a limit on how much action a unit will see, so having 4 extra clips or 2 frag nades.. unused.. verses basic combat armour which is useful with any taken damage.

26

Discussion / Re: Several users needed for a small test (no special skill needed)

« on: December 08, 2013, 06:27:56 am »

Okay.. all in less then 2 mins   

27

Design / Re: Alien Containment Unit

« on: November 04, 2013, 12:23:33 pm »

Food for thought:

Now that (in the current state of 2.5) live aliens can't be captured until the Alien Breathing Apparatus has been researched, would it make story sense for the Alien Containment Unit to not be buildable until after the research is completed, and increase starting player money by the cost of an ACU? I can make the case either way.

What exactly IS ANy one  buying with this increased starting player money?  I usually start off selling equipment so I like the idea of more money, and I am unsure how this much moremoneyismorefavourable, like what am getting instead?

28

Newbie Coding / Re: Switch on random spwan?!

« on: November 04, 2013, 10:49:15 am »

'Search the forums'

But daym.. subject

 Re: blah blah  er// spwan??

  lol at least it works for someone.

29

Discussion / Re: Map sizes?

« on: November 04, 2013, 10:38:53 am »

Are smoke bombs OP'd? Or are they the only option?

Either way, it's not good and still, I have yet to meet the Shevaar who didn't insist on kicking down ma smoke wall; much to my discomfort.

Should the incendiary nades also throw up some lesser kind ( then the pure smoke grenade) of line-of-sight / field-of-view smoke??

Edit:

 Is it possible to put out a 3 area cloud on the outside end ( the direction lobbed at) radius of a grenade lob?  That is to say looking at any, grenade that explodes is no good for any of us. 

  And while we are damaging the opponent we can also attacking and disrupting their line-of-sight, setting up secondary moves: or in the case of a ill timed nade, obstruct our own field-of-view.. ahh I guess more suited to muiltiplay

30

Feature Requests / Re: A few ideas for bases

« on: November 04, 2013, 10:21:06 am »

I read the plan for making bases bigger and cutting down the number of required buildings for a base. I was thinking since the radar dishes aren't actually in the base the radar building could be merged with the command center, but the advanced radar should be a separate building still.

Early on you have plenty of space.  So in terms: The combined base is not as good as the stand-alone base is not as good as the advanced base.  And if the advanced Base is mid-term and separate, why does it matter? ( when this early on base space doesn't??)

When aliens attack you base your pilots, workers, and scientists should be in the base according to how they are assigned so scientists would be in the labs, workers would be in the workshop and pilots would be in the hangers. They wouldn't wonder around the base, but would rather head over to the living quarters or maybe some sort of raid shelter which could be added if this is put in. This would make attacks on your base a lot more devastating. When the workers and scientists are changed to just numbers instead of individual people if you add in a few hours delivery time for them. This would make base design critical during attacks, because you could lose more that just your soldiers.

Or just lose and lose the base.  And personally moar ppl just means more ppl getting in the way of my soldiers shots..  also I can't imagine the cost of getting / watching 60+ base personnel getting slaughtered.   

 ...oh get out of the way..

Another thing that would go well with this would be weapons lockers in each building in the base that carry a couple of pistols, assault rifles and some ammo that people could pick up so your pilots, workers and scientists wouldn't be totally helpless. Even if they had a gun they wouldn't actively seek out and engage the aliens, but if they do see an alien they could take cover and shoot at them, but run as soon as the alien starts shooting back at them or take a shot or two then run. You could do both and make it a special button available during base attacks base personal defend themselves or shoot and run. It would make sense that all personal in the base would have at least basic firearms operation training. The base being empty during base attacks is just really weird especially in those bases that have like 60 personal.

You can blame -Geever

 I think the idea is to implement a equip area on the Dropships.  Which should give you a chance to shoot down the Aliens and still get there early enough to take advantage of the crash damage.

Workers should be able to help build buildings in your base and speed up aircraft repair. It could work like any other production. For buildings workers could be assigned to base building in the production screen so you wouldn't need a workshop. If no buildings are under construction workers assigned to base building would ether be reassigned to the workshop or work in the workshop till another building is being built( might need some to remind the player that some workers will stop and work on the buildings. Aircraft repair would again not require a workshop and workers would have to be assigned and the repair rate could be like one worker repairs 1% per hour so with one worker the aircraft would repair at 2% each hour, etc. This would make workers a whole lot more useful especially in early game when you don't have much or anything for them to do.

One and two percentages seem low, but otherwise I like the idea of being able to assign work focus, how to make it work?

Being able to start building buildings next to buildings under construction would be really helpful. You could increase the number of days it takes to build the building by how far away it is from a active building. This would really help in bases where the entrance gets dumped in a corner or when it is up against a square you can't build in and a wall.

Base building kinda blows.  Once you know what you are doing; or what you are doing with this base... honestly base building should be harder.  Does this make Base Building harder?